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Focus Magic in the Royal Basin
As with all other areas of The Rising of Chaos: What is known, what is true and what is propoganda are three very different things. If you have chosen to follow Source Magic in the Royal Basin what follows is a brief overview of how it is perceived, what it is for and how it is used depending on where you were trained. Focus Magic Faith, Divinity, Belief From the Magic of The Source was born the power of the Focus which draws its name from the method in which the power is drawn and changed. At a time of great need Sourcerers rose to prominence who pushed the convictions of people and instilled in them the power of belief. This belief focussed their power into what is now called Grace or Focus and through actions involving the species known as Fae, practitioners of the Source were drawn into a state of Divinity. Concepts of Heavens and afterlives, Deities and Hells were discussed among their followers and the ideals of Clergies and Synods were born in the Royal Basin. As their power grew the Abomination found its way into the Faith as Heresy or Apostasy which gave birth to creatures seeking faith as a power feed itself for dark and blasphemous purposes. From this point onwards mortals began to understand that faith, true belief in the Divine, had gained power and had become like a commodity that could be traded to these new beings of power, these Deities. The most faithful that acted as Focuses for the lesser became like brokers passing on that power for the Divine and in return were granted the right to perform miracle for their followers. Those deities with more followers had more faith and grew more powerful, others rose and fell but were governed by their followers by the belief of what they thought they were until they had become little more than concepts. Now their worship is universal, religion is organised and a power within most countries. Learning the Power of Faith Everything in the Royal Basin begins in the Academy and grows out into the Guilds and from there into the Tables of Governance. The AzureTable represents the power that is at the Core of Faith and its flock is made up by the Churches of the Eleven although the articles of faith are taught elsewhere to a specialised level. We recommend that you examine the Churches where faith is taught to give yourself greater depth and understanding. Each Church is dedicated to one of the Eleven Gods of the Royal Basin that have been recently unified, once again, by the Azure Table: *There are a number of deities which is constantly in flux as the Pantheon grows or shrinks dependent on the situation of the day. *Each deity prescribes or describes their Priests in different ways however there is, fundamentally only the Concept of Priests. What is The Pantheon? *All the deities of one people collectively is called a Pantheon *In the Royal Basin a Pantheon is broken down into the deities of the Dawn, the Day and the Dusk. *This is designed to represent the passage of time: The Deities of Dawn are seen as young and virile, The Day as growing in wisdom and working and the Dusk as venerable, facing death but learned. Who are the deities and which Pantheons do they live in The Dawn Yarrianne '– The Gentle Hand: Yarriannites are charged to help all those who are in pain and are suffering, offering mercy and taking the burdens of these ills upon themselves where necessary. Yarriannites often stick to the doctrine of diplomacy and pacifism as part of their code when faced with any hostile situation. [[The Council of Tiberius|'Tiberius ]] – The Mailed fist: Tiberius is one of the most ethically pure of the all faiths in that it is devoted to obedience and loyalty. This is not to say that this is a Blind obedience; Tiberiusites are as guided by their own actions as they are by the loyalty that they serve. For a Tiberiusite salvation may be found through their adherence to duty and honour and their day to day actions are guided by such thoughts. [[The Key of Naed|'Naed' ]] – The Kind Hand: Naed’ doctrine is quite specific about the responsibilities placed upon those with power and as far as he is concerned all of the Priests within his faith are considered to be those with power. It is difficult for any Priest of Naed to truly grasp the overall message that Naed is sending to his people, Naed encourages individuality and his Priests have embraced this concept with open arms. Whilst there are only four recognised Churches of Naed there are hundreds of tiny schism factions within that hierarchy that have slightly different dogmas of their own. The Day [[The Pracalam Assembly|'Pracalam' ]] – Lord of the Harvest: Pracalam is husband to Yarrianne. His faith are hard working folk who mostly hail from the ranks of the smallfolk. Far from cities his priests roam the trade roads keeping them safe as they travel from farmstead to inn to charcoal burners camp. They ensure that people are fed, supplied and safe and that they are not being prayed upon economically. They will pitch in during harvests and bless the ceremonies of those times ensuring that food goes further than one would suspect. The Corrigun – Traitors Bane: The Corriguns followers are almost explicitly soldiers, chaplains and other types found on the Battlefield. They hold the words of Oaths dear holding those words in their very souls to ensure their sanctity. They specialise in helping people begin new lives, especially after wars and are usually skilled Chirurgeon’s and diplomats, seeking peaceful solutions where possible. [[The Halls of Justice|'Ekimelahw' ]] – The Incorruptible: The Ekimelahwians are charged to uphold the law, keep order and to dispense Justice where possible in an impartial and reasonable manner. They are to obey the law of the land in all things in so much as it is supported by an ordered, balanced and properly appointed authority. They are to maintain the balance of the light and the dark and ensure that the two co-exist without any transgression of mortal or divine law or edict. In times of war the Ekimelahwian church acts as a buffer between the people of Vaklam and the battles that are taking place ensuring that dangers do not spill over into civilian areas. They also police the armies and navies enforcing wartime laws as rigidly as peacetime ones. [[The Timeless Orders of Lore and Fate|'Bethylak' ]] – The One: Knowledge is the most powerful thing that any person can own, knowledge is formed of ideas and ideas are dangerous. An idea can kill a man, though it has no edge, it can topple buildings though it has no weight, it has no mass but can sweep aside kingdoms and one idea can dominate an empire. Most important of all an idea cannot be seen though it can be heard and even if it is killed it can be rekindled and returned to life once more. Knowledge is the most powerful thing that any person can own but before anything can exist the idea must exist. [[The Church of the Ten Travellers|'Terref' ]] – The Charmed: Terref teaches that mercantile trade is the best road to enrichment. Increasing the general prosperity of all, buys ever-greater civilisation and happiness for all intelligent folk bringing everyone closer to a Golden Age of peace, music, laughter and joy. Terref is the merchant’s friend and bids that those that follower her shall destroy no trade goods in either deed nor word. To say that all grapes from The Ferns are poisoned is to blaspheme in the eyes of the Goddess. The faithful should give money freely to beggars and to business alike to demonstrate the bounty of the Goddess and the wealth to be gained through service to her and to increase the free coin in everyone’s hands. The Dusk Rayvahn ' – The End of hope: Clergy of Rayvahn have a difficult task with the skills at their disposal; Rayvahn commands that all of her gifts are brought to the deserving, but establishing the deserving from the innocent is a difficult task. Many believe that her Priests simply mete out her gifts to all and sundry, those that do are not part of her clergy, to most priests the gifts of Rayvahn are precious. Misery, pain and suffering are things that come at as a response to an action. For most people these things come naturally and the cause of such pain is often unjust or untimely. For others, actions go unpunished and crimes and sins that deserve the gifts of the mistress are the food of the Clergy 'Notelexus – The Coldest Fear: The Clergy of Notelexus have a great deal of directives; their main priority is to deal with the dead and see to the passing over of the spirit to the next realm. All spirits that wish to travel to the side of a Deity must first travel to the realm of Notelexus before they move onto the Halls of Justice and Ekimelahw and be judged. Most folk of the Basin would prefer a Notelexian to preside over their death rites; it lends a certainty to the proceedings and most small folk believe that their passage to the afterlife will not be pleasant or successful. As such the Notelexian faith are held in incredibly high esteem despite prior transgressions and most noble families have reinstated the family Notelexian that serves to guide all of their line into the afterlife and remain in communication with them. The Kraken – The Oblivion of the Deep: To say that the sea is the be all and end all of the Krakenite faith would be very misleading, there are certainly two sides of the coin at work here. The Priesthood takes the role of burdens very seriously and with it hidden things. Since becoming part of the Clergy of the Royal Basin they have chosen to embrace the nations burdens as best they can, ostensibly so that they can better fit into the society that they have come to belong to. They have become part of the world that seeks for that which is lost, takes up the burdens of others and fights for the overall good of the Clergy and ergo the Royal Basin, it is fast becoming part of the mantra of the Church.